Chirphymium It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

Plustown A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

Kaydan Christian A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Nicole I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

R. Hall "Piece of Cake" is a top notch production, excellently adapted from one of my favorite books by Derek Robinson. The acting is superb, the score, set designs, locations and period detail create a wonderfully full viewing experience.I first watched this show during its North American release in 1990 and promptly went out and bought the book. I since acquired the DVD set, and watch it a couple of times a year. Yes, there are some discrepancies with the book (such as the switch from Hurricanes to Spitfires) which are likely explained by budgetary and availability issues, and the aerial scenes may look a little dated by now. But despite these minor shortcomings, the series it not diminished in its quality.Some detractors (elsewhere on this post) seem hung up on political correctness and 'fact'. Ignore their remarks. "Piece of Cake" is a rousing good story, based on historical circumstances and, as the author states: "Hornet squadron is fiction. The places where it was based do not exist. All the characters in the story are invented. Everything else is a authentic as I could make it." These detractors obviously don't know the difference between documentaries and entertainment. We all know that "Bridge on the River Kwai", "Patton", "Apocalypse Now" and "M*A*S*H" were not representative of typical military 'behavior', but they all stand as excellent films by any standard.If you want to watch cold hard fact, watch the documentary series "World at War". If you want something to help put a human face behind the horror and the terror of war, watch "Piece of Cake".Apologies for the digression. Ten out of ten for "Piece of Cake".

PLRD There's plenty to appreciate here: spectacular locations and flying sequences; period costumes, props and sets; and competent writing and acting. However, to enjoy a drama, we need at least one principal who exhibits some qualities that we can like or admire. In this bunch of catty snobs, we found only one character who is at all likable — a hapless enlisted man in a fleeting peripheral role as their helpless victim. From the reviews here, it is clear that we are completely out of step, but we did not find their malicious-schoolgirl behavior amusing or entertaining. Even the dog is detestable. We threw in the towel after two of the six episodes, so you should discount these observations accordingly, but what I could find written about this mini-series gave us no cause to expect character transformation or redemption.

jkholman Watching this television mini-series for the second time, I am enjoying Piece of Cake very much. Yes, the aircraft are not Hurricanes as they should be, possibly because they were unavailable. Maybe the production people used Spitfires because they were the only things on the shelf. I was relieved to find that after several minutes this technical defect did not detract from the film. It helps that the Spitfire is such a beautiful aeroplane (and I love the Hurricane) and is arguably as photogenic as Lana Turner. As mentioned elsewhere, the characters have their foibles, which make them that much more impressive to the audience. While Flying Officer Cattermole is given to deliberate cruelty, Pilot Officer Hart is no less (albeit unintentionally)so with his ill-advised intercourse with the enlisted person. Having been there myself, it is quite unpleasant. I had my druthers about the inclusion of an American in the story (many a good British film lost something by including an American not originally part of the book), but this one works. It does this by allowing Officer Hart to behave socially on a par with his Empire flying mates, although he botches it badly in the aforementioned incident. Yes, we Americans are naive. While it takes me awhile to warm to Officer Cattermole, he is easily the most reliable combat flier of the squadron. He seems to unreservedly accept the American (on equal terms) more than he does his peers. Not having read the book, I can only leave the detractors of this work to their own devices, but I will continue to enjoy this entertaining piece of cinematic work.

darencogdon Forgiving the various historical inaccuracies (Spitfires instead of Hurricanes, aircraft colour schemes, etc) this is a very enjoyable piece of TV.Though it may be hard to choose one truly great character in the programme, as there are so many, I really have to admire 'Moggy' Cattermole. Moggy gets the best lines, without a doubt, and he is undeniably the one we'd all want to be. Unbelievably charming, absolutely dashing and the definition of wit itself, Moggy steals the show on the ground. But it is the aerial content that I wanted to watch in this - the fight scenes are well done, and the way in which the whole thing is brought together (well explained in a very informative and thought provoking book, 'How They Made.....') is quite remarkable.Throughly enjoyed over and over on video, too.